Letter to the Editor: President Obama’s approach could prevent yet another war

Monday

Oct 22, 2012 at 2:00 PMOct 22, 2012 at 2:40 PM

President Obama and Gov. Romney have major differences in how to handle concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. While both are strong supporters of Israel, Obama has pursued sanctions and diplomacy — both showing signs of success.

To the Editor:

President Obama and Gov. Romney have major differences in how to handle concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. While both are strong supporters of Israel, Obama has pursued sanctions and diplomacy — both showing signs of success.

In Romney’s recent trip to Israel, he told Prime Minister Netanyahu he would support a preemptive strike with U.S. firepower and, as president, he would give Netanyahu the benefit of the doubt in deciding if and when to bomb Iran.

In a February report to Congress, the U.S. Intelligence Community's Worldwide Threat Assessment found no evidence of an Iranian nuclear terror threat. And CIA chief Gen. Petraeus and the Joint Chiefs’ Gen. Dempsey agreed. They concluded Iran has no known military nuclear program, with no likely intention to initiate one, and claiming otherwise would be spurious and inflammatory.

Dagan said a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be “reckless and irresponsible — one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard.” Retaliation “could be a rain of 50,000 missiles on Israel. As for war, you know how it starts, but you never know how you are ending it.”

He added that attacks on Iran’s uranium enrichment sites would likely be ineffective — there are dozens of them, all heavily fortified.

Israeli security expert Yuval Diskin (former head of Shin Bet) agreed: “Netanyahu’s judgment is ‘clouded by messianic feelings’ and should not be trusted.”

President Obama’s approach can avert yet another war that no one should want.